Alliance Air flies with all-Guwahati crew

June 21: Alliance Air, a wholly owned subsidiary of Air India, can now boast of having an all-Guwahati crew.

The airline today operated a flight from Lokopriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport to Lengpui airport in Aizawl for the first time with a cockpit and cabin crew based entirely in the city.

The ART 42 aircraft, bearing number AI9757, took off from LGBI Airport around 1.05pm and landed at Lengpui airport in about 35 minutes. After a halt for 30 minutes at the Lengpui airport, it returned to the city. There were 48 passengers on board the Aizawl-bound flight. It had four crew members comprising a captain, a co-pilot and two cabin crew members.

Although Alliance Air has been operating several flights from the city to other parts of the country daily since 2002, its operations so far have been supported by crew from Calcutta and other bases.

“Apart from Calcutta and Delhi, Guwahati is commissioned as an operations base of Alliance Air with independent infrastructure and systems. In fact, it operates several flights routinely from Guwahati to other parts of the Northeast and the country. Till date, our operations were largely supported by crew from Calcutta and other bases and we had only one or two members in our flights who were actually based in Guwahati. Hence, we have now decided to have a complete crew comprising commanders, first officers, cabin crew, flight dispatchers and ground staff based locally,” said an Alliance Air spokesperson.

Having a crew based here will create more job opportunities for local youths.

“The commander and co-pilot who operated the flight to Aizawl today are seasoned professionals who have several hours of flying to their credit. The crew and ground staff based in Guwahati have been recruited from the northeastern region and are efficiently trained for ATR aircraft operated mainly by Alliance Air here. We already have a ground staff comprising engineers and technicians based here, through the process is on to recruit more to enhance the present team further,” said the spokesperson.

At present, one ATR 42 aircraft of Alliance Air is positioned for night halts at LGBI airport. The airline plans to base another ATR aircraft fornight halts at the airport. This, the airline claims, will work as an impetus in strengthening its infrastructure and human resources to efficiently serve passengers of the Northeast.